


A Shiver. A Touch. A Moan

by chloemagea



Category: Crimson Peak (2015)
Genre: Creepy, Demons, Dubious Consent, Eventual Smut, F/M, Ghost Sex, Ghosts, Gothic, Haunted House, Horror, Jealousy, Modern Era, Modern gothic, Monsters, Paranormal, Smut, Succubi & Incubi, Supernatural Elements, Voyeurism, demonic, haunted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-04-30 21:22:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5180222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloemagea/pseuds/chloemagea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twenty-three and broke, Jalissa Stone thinks she's found the perfect job. Watching over beautiful and historic Allerdale Hall. She doesn't think ghosts are real until they prove her otherwise, some more physical than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Crimson Peak

**Author's Note:**

> No smut in the first chapter got to build this shit up first.

_The Monarch Butterfly is rare in England, native to North America, like me. But the very first time that I saw Allerdale Hall one landed on my bare shoulder. Flapping it's orange and black wings as if in morse code._

**_'Leave, leave, leave.'_ **

_It was eerie, and I should have listened, but I didn't._

_I never fucking do._

* * *

 

"Now darling, do you have everything you need?" An old, woman asked as she stood at the front door with her like the wise old husband. Their luxury, leather luggage being carried out to their car by their silent driver.

"Yeah, I think so." A young woman responded as she picked at the sleeve of her sweater; it was summer, but she was starting to learn that the hall was always cold.

"You are a life saver, we are so lucky we found you to watch over this house while we are away, Jalissa." The old man said with a warm but slightly nervous smile, exposing his crooked, but white teeth.

"No problem, Mr. Suber. It's an honour to be able to look after such a historic and beautiful home." Jalissa told him, as she pushed up her black rimmed glasses and ran her fingers through her thick brown hair.  


"Remember the rule," Ms. Suber said, raising and eyebrow. Jalissa nodded over to the old elevator that still somehow worked. It had been deemed quite dangerous.

"Don't use the elevator and don't go to the sub-basement."

"Good, good. I think you're all set, feel free to have guests over, we know it can get a bit lonely in there." Mr. Suber told her as he put on his golf hat over his bald head and then extended one veiny, chilly hand to the warm, dark cheeked, twenty-three-year-old. "You'll have your first check in your account by tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good," Jalissa shook his hand and then gave Mrs. Suber a hug. The old woman lingered, holding onto her with a small hint of worry before she pulled away.

"We'll call and check in on you, okay?"

"Okay." Jalissa nodded, watching as they turned and stepped out of the large ornate doors. She gave a quick wave with a bright smile before the door closed with their usual ominous clack. Mrs. Suber raised her hand and wiped a picking tear from her blue eye as she sighed.

"We should have got a man, why couldn't we hire a man to watch over this place?" 

"No man wanted the job. They have been so silent for so long, they might be gone." Mr. Suber said, patting his wife on her back as they walked over to the car.

"No, Johnathan things like them don't ever leave. They are all sleeping, waiting... especially those two..."

* * *

  
All Jalissa know of Allerdale Hall was that it had been run down and many people had owned it since the deaths of the original owners. Over the years it had been fixed, new roof, new floors, leveled foundation, new wiring but still somehow most of the house was still original. Minus the new tubs, toilets, appliances. This lead into the second thing she knew about the house, it was apparent ' _haunted_ ' and to appease the spirits every owner tried to keep it original as possible. The walls were still lined with painted pictures, the first mistress of the house still watched from her portrait, the piano still sat in the drawing room and the ornate bedroom had the original bed frame even though the mattress had been long thrown out.

There was a certain clash of Turn of the 20th-century Gothic and modern day when it came to the current decor. The large slim television seemed stunned at its place in the home. The blinking lights on the wireless router flickered as if confused to its surroundings. Yet, Jalissa didn't really believe the tales of ghosts so she was unbothered. The last fact that she knew of the hall was that they called it 'Crimson Peak' because of the blood red clay that it sat on. In the winter it would creep from the ground causing the snow to look as if it was bleeding. 

Creepy stuff.

Nothing that Jalissa Stone felt that she couldn't handle and for the handsome pay of a thousand American dollar a week she knew nothing could scare her off for babysitting Crimson Peak for the summer.

  
Jalissa laid starfish on the couch, wearing fluffy white knee socks. A white crop top that exposed her soft and slightly chubby belly, and high waisted shorts. As she flipped through the television channels idly pulling at her belly button ring.

"Fuck," she muttered as she grabbed her hoodie from the floor and slipped it on. The one thing that had gone un-updated was the heating and cooling, no air, no heat. In turn, the house always had an old smell to it, like wet books. Her phone rang and she quickly answered.

"Yeah?"

"Oh my God! Please tell me you didn't take that job," Her best friend, Ella barked from the other end.

"Girl, of course, I took the job," Jalissa said, rolling her hazel eyes.

"I told you, some really fucked up shit happened in that house,"

"Yeah, like a hundred years go, or something. It's not like someone died in here last week." Jalissa got up and strolled into the kitchen.

"Things like that don't go away, Jalis," Ella said.

"See there you go with that hoodoo voodoo nonsense. You sound like my grandma. What? Should I get some salt and draw lines that these spooky ghosts can't cross?" she laughed.

"You might want to..."

"Oh, Girl. There's no such thing as--" she was about to say 'ghosts' but her phone chirped, making the sound that it did when the battery was low. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Ella's voice quickly asked.

"My phone is almost dead, I'll call you back."

"Okay." With that, she ended the call and stared at her phone. It had been almost fully charged, but now the alert was showing 22%. Jalissa let out a sigh before she left the kitchen to head upstairs to get her charger from one of her many bags. Her sock cover feet slipped along the polished wood as she walked down the hall and spring up the ominously dark staircase. Her careless whistles echoing off of the walls as she made her way to the master bedroom. The Subers didn't use that room and told her that she was more than welcome to sleep in it during her stay. Jalissa pulled open the door and stepped in, to the almost gaudy bedroom. Most of it was original to the home, the ornate rug, the tables, the golden ornate ceiling and the obnoxiously dramatic bed.

She took a seat on the edge of the mattress and grabbed up one of her luggage bags and rummaged around for her charger. There was a sudden flutter by her right ear, causing her to jump. Blinking quickly she glanced around but found nothing.

"....okay..." she muttered as she continued to look her bags, eventually finding the charger in the second one she looked, though. Just as soon as she was about to get up there was that fluttering in her ear again, she quickly turned her head and saw what it was, a moth. A big, black moth. It landed on her dark hand and flapped its fuzzy wings. Jalissa didn't say anything, only staring back at the little creature the hairs on the back of her neck standing straight up, chills inching down her young and live spine. Slowly and cautiously she stood, the moth still on her hand as she moved to the window. She pushed it open with one hand, and freed the insect, watching it flutter away into the midday warmth. Unknown to Jalissa the moth had not been the only thing watching her.


	2. The Hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are rather short due to there being only one main character so fair, which means minimal dialog. Next chapter things will pick up, I promise.

Music filled the dim, large, lounge room, loud, thumping music like none the Allerdale Hall had ever housed before. Full of voice and crisp overproduced tunes. Current music from the top 40 and even things older, but none of the noise that came from her would have been recognizable as music to those that once walked those halls. Under the old high piled books, beneath the latin encryption over the obscenely large empty, fireplace that read  _Ad montes_ oculos levaci _._ Live and sparking Jalissa played and danced to her music.

Most of her friends would have said, _"Drinking all alone at 6 pm is pretty lame."_  But the hastily mixed vodka and orange juice was making her appreciate the moment. She had the run of a historical manor that verged on castle size. For three months, she didn't need to worry about housing expenses and the best part was that she got paid for essentially doing _nothing._  Dusting and getting the mail wasn't worth her paycheck, but she was more than happy to accept - who wouldn't?

Holding up her glass of spiked juice Jalissa danced foolishly and sung off key. Feeling completely inhibited by the buzz of her second alcohol thick Screwdriver. Moving about in her socked feet on the newly restored floor, like a teenage jittering about in her bedroom as if she were fully alone. The bright cheery music she had been enjoying ended followed by, the dark sounds of The Weeknd's 'The Hills' The feedback-ish sound of the intro instantly causing her to dance to the sexual trance-like tempo.

_I only call you when it's half past five_

_The only time that I'll be by your side_

_I only love it when you touch me, not feel me_

_When I'm fucked up, that's the real me_

_When I'm fucked up, that's the real me, yeah._

Jalissa moved her hips in a slow deliberate way, holding onto her glass of alcohol with eyes closed lost to the song. Her body was completely unaware to its own hardening nipples due to the creeping chill as she moved to the music.

_I only fuck you when it's half past five_

_The only time I'd ever call you mine_

_I only love it when you touch me, not feel me_

_When I'm fucked up, that's the real me_

_When I'm fucked up, that's the real me, babe._

Her lips parted, the heat of her breath escaping her mouth into the air. She ran her hand up her thick thigh slowly and then up to her exposed stomach. Her full hips swayed in a motion as if she were grinding on an invisible pole or body.

The fine hairs on her forearm started to raise, causing gooseflesh. There was the cold tingle down her spine as she started to get the feeling that something was behind her. As if actual human eyes were watching her dance from the couch or chair.  In mid-motion, Jalissa paused her golden powered eyelids flickered open quickly.

_Hills have eyes, the hills have eyes_

_Who are you to judge, who are you to judge?_

_Hide your lies, girl, hide your lies_

_Only you to trust, only you._

Jalissa spun around, smooth on the ball of her sock covered foot. Hazel stare blinking rapidly in an attempt to locate what gave her the odd sensation, but there was nothing to be found.

"...Chill out, Jalissa. It's an old house, of course, it's going to be a bit creepy, " she told herself before she knocked back the rest of her mixed drink, finishing off the glass before she went to stir up another one.

* * *

 

Four screwdriver's later, Jalissa was drunkenly climbing the stairs to retire from her first day at Crimson Peak. She had made sure she cut off all of the downstairs lights, the Subers had made it very clear that the house was an energy waster and if a light or an electronic wasn't being used it needed to be off or even unplugged.

Rubbing her eyes, she ascended the dark, steep staircase, using her phone screen as a flashlight. Jalissa pushed open the heavy doors to the master bedroom and practically stumbled in.

"Ugh, I'll shower in the morning," she muttered, fiddling to get out of her jean shorts, and shrugging off her hoodie. She shed herself off down to her bearly there lace panties and top and then climbed into the obnoxiously huge bed. With a sigh and a hum, Jalissa slipped into a deep,  drunk ignorant sleep.

There was the breath of the house, the warm summer air hissing through the chimneys and out of the fireplaces. In her sleep, Jalissa kicked off the comforter, her body only wrapped in a silk sheet. The handle to the bedroom door shook, once, twice, three times before it slowly creek open. The dark blue light off the hallway spilling in to cast her in its uncomfortable hue.

Jalissa stirred in her sleep when she felt something flutter against her right cheek. She whacked it away, but she didn't wake still lost to the recesses of her mind. Her cell phone chirped with the low battery alert, causing her to slip over, supine on her back. The time turned 3:00 am and every single creek in the house went deathly silence as the silken bedsheet slowly inched down her waist, exposing her soft, brown belly to the houses chill. The skin around her navel ring sunk as if a curious finger was pressing on the barbell in her soft flesh.

"Mmmm," she hummed, her hips rocking instantly as the single pointed touch lowered, like one long fingered tracing itself, down, down and right before it could touch the lace of her panties Jalissa suddenly awoke. Her eyes flickered open quickly, focused on the gold ceiling. There was a tingle in her flesh, it felt live, almost full of static. The air was prickled and cold.

"Ugh...." Jalissa grabbed the comforter and recovered herself up, and in her still drunken state she failed to notice the open door.

* * *

 _Three quick, hateful passionate stabs. One. Two. Three. In the chest. Pain, emotional and_ physical _equal to each other. A shocked stare, tear picking light eyes. A name in the form of a broken question. Blood spilling out from the three holes in the chest. Lastly a knife in the face._

Jalissa gasped and sprung up right. Her hand holding her left cheek, she could feel her heart thumping and quivering in her chest as she gasped for air. The morning light blinded her for a second,  all bright yellow and warm orange. Birds chirped out on the window ledges, tweeting happily at the sun and Jalissa's gut felt slick with acid and vodka, with a sick gurgle she was forced to stumble from the bed and hurry to the bathroom. She fell to her knees in front of the toilet proceeded to vomit up a stream of orange and sourness. Her chokes and purges echoed off the walls, and she coughed so hard that she teared up. There was a ping, hollow and crisp, Jalissa tried to swallow back another cough, her ears straining to hear what she thought she heard. He body betrayed her and she continued to heave like a cat with hair stuck in its throat. The same ping came again, it sounded as if he eighth octave C note was being pressed on the piano downstairs.

"Ugh..what the fuck?" Jalissa snapped, but once she was actually able to focus her attention on the sound - it was gone.


	3. First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gasp! I updated!

The night was dark, pitch black as the summer wind breezed against the windows of Allerdale Hall. Pretty, yet passed out drunk Jalissa laid dead asleep in the large gothic bed. Too many glasses of cranberry and vodka had warmed her blood during the night. Her limp dreaming body in the center of the mattress, looking doll-like surrounded by the fully silken cased pillows. She had been there for three days, all alone in Crimson Peak and she had noticed the odd creepy things that seemed to happen around her. A lock of her hair being brushed off of her shoulder when she wandered into the attic, a cold spot that the seemed to follow her from the drawing room to the kitchen. The television turning off by itself with no timer while she was in the middle of watching it. Yet, still the skeptic in her brushed those things away like dust. The windy draft of the house could explain most, the television could have turned off due to a short in the wiring, such a thing was possible. More possible than ghosts.

Yet the only thing Jalissa could not explain were the nightmares that made her whimper in her sleep.

Violent images, knives into skin, tears from blue eyes, thin pale lips uttering a name in shock and horror. Speaking two syllables that she could not make out in the form of a pained and confused question. Then a stab in the face, the blade cutting under a cheekbone. For two nights she had this nightmare, and her third night was no different.

With a wet gasp, Jalissa's body sprung up, jolting as if she had been shocked by a cattle prod. Her right shaking hand instantly came up to her face, fingers touching her face, expecting to feel the handle of a knife buried in her flesh and bone but there was nothing, only the smooth apple slice of her cheek. Her heart thumped like a drum in her ears, a thick bead of sweat ran down her forehead as her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of the surrounding room.

“Ugh, fuck.” Jalissa uttered through the night as her pulse started to slow back to its normal pace. She smacked her lips, feeling the dry, dehydrated, cottony feeling. She sat there for a moment, trying to will away the want for water, but the feeling became too much. “Goddamn it.” Jalissa reached over to the bedside table and picked up her phone and clicked the side button causing it to shine its screen light before she slipped out of bed. Her naked feet touched the ornate rug, and the oversized white t-shirt slipped across her curved frame as she moved to the bedroom door. Unknown to Jalissa a black moth fluttered its soft wings right above the crown of her head, its compound eyes watching as she pulled open the door with a creek.

Peeking right, she went to head towards the large staircase but she stopped when she heard what sounded like a muffled dog bark from down the left side of the long blue hued hallway. “What?” she whispered, turning her head, her ears straining to hear. Then again, came the sound of happy dog barking. Her first thought went to the fact that the sub-basement did have foundation issues and maybe some poor stray had made its way into the house. Improbable yes, but not impossible. Looking back right once, Jalissa bit her lip, before she decided to go investigate the sound with an annoyed sigh.

“Oh fuck me…” she slowly moved down the long wooden hallway, her naked feet creeping slowly, as she kept her cell phone up and lit to light her way. The temperature started to drop, and her breaths slipped from her full lips like little white puffs of smoke. The tiny, downy hairs on her forearms stood at attention, the goosebumps on her smooth skin made themselves known, and she suddenly became aware of her own flight or fight response. Everything inside of her was screaming at max volume <i>"Go back! 

The night was dark, pitch black as the summer wind breezed against the windows of Allerdale Hall. Pretty, yet passed out drunk Jalissa laid dead asleep in the large gothic bed. Too many glasses of cranberry and vodka had warmed her blood during the night. Her limp dreaming body in the center of the mattress, looking doll-like surrounded by the fully silken cased pillows. She had been there for three days, all alone in Crimson Peak and she had noticed the odd creepy things that seemed to happen around her.  A lock of her hair being brushed off of her shoulder when she wandered into the attic, a cold spot that the seemed to follow her from the drawing room to the kitchen. The television turning off by itself with no timer while she was in the middle of watching it. Yet, still the skeptic in her brushed those things away like dust. The windy draft of the house could explain most, the television could have turned off due to a short in the wiring, such a thing was possible. More possible than ghosts.

Yet the only thing  Jalissa could not explain were the nightmares that made her whimper in her sleep.

Violent images, knives into skin, tears from blue eyes, thin pale lips uttering a name in shock and horror. Speaking two syllables that she could not make out in the form of a pained and confused question. Then a stab in the face, the blade cutting under a cheekbone. For two nights she had this nightmare, and her third night was no different.

With a wet gasp, Jalissa's body sprung up, jolting as if she had been shocked by a cattle prod. Her right shaking hand instantly came up to her face, fingers touching her face, expecting to feel the handle of a knife buried in her flesh and bone but there was nothing, only the smooth apple slice of her cheek. Her heart thumped like a drum in her ears, a thick bead of sweat ran down her forehead as her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of the surrounding room.

“Ugh, fuck.” Jalissa uttered through the night as her pulse started to slow back to its normal pace. She smacked her lips, feeling the dry, dehydrated, cottony feeling. She sat there for a moment, trying to will away the want for water, but the feeling became too much. “Goddamn it.” Jalissa reached over to the bedside table and picked up her phone and clicked the side button causing it to shine its screen light before she slipped out of bed. Her naked feet touched the ornate rug, and the oversized white t-shirt slipped across her curved frame as she moved to the bedroom door. Unknown to Jalissa a black moth fluttered its soft wings right above the crown of her head, its compound eyes watching as she pulled open the door with a creek.

Peeking right, she went to head towards the large staircase but she stopped when she heard what sounded like a muffled dog bark from down the left side of the long blue hued hallway. “What?” she whispered, turning her head, her ears straining to hear. Then again, came the sound of happy dog barking. Her first thought went to the fact that the sub-basement did have foundation issues and maybe some poor stray had made its way into the house. Improbable yes, but not impossible. Looking back right once, Jalissa bit her lip, before she decided to go investigate the sound with an annoyed sigh.

“Oh fuck me…” she slowly moved down the long wooden hallway, her naked feet creeping slowly, as she kept her cell phone up and lit to light her way. The temperature started to drop, and her breaths slipped from her full lips like little white puffs of smoke. The tiny, downy hairs on her forearms stood at attention, the goosebumps on her smooth skin made themselves known, and she suddenly became aware of her own flight or fight response. Everything inside of her was screaming at max volume-

_"Go back! Go back!"_

-but she couldn’t stop moving as if something was drawing her closer. There was an odd sensation, that caused her to stop dead. She had just felt as if she stepped through some type of viscous mist. Her logical eyes saw nothing but her metaphysical intuition knew that _someone_ was there. Someone that was obviously male. Her nose was filled with the faint scent of cologne and the red, warm blood drained out of her face as she just stood there trying to contemplate what was happening.

Much to her horror, the light to her cellphone went out, quickly and feverishly she hit the side button but nothing happened. There was a hush of a hot breath at her neck, as real as if a lover's mouth was hovering right above her throat. Jalissa’s sudden scream filled the manor and in she forgot about the sound of the dog that she had been attempting to investigate as she turned on her heel and ran as fast as she could back down the hallway. Her toe caught on one of the rugs, and she fell forward landing on her knees hard, but she scurried back up and kept sprinting towards the bedroom. With a slam, she locked the door and like a terrified child, she ran to the bed and threw the covers over her head. Her hot, panicked breaths heated the space under the sheets, warming her frozen and petrified fingers and toes.

“Oh...my..oh my god...what the fuck...what the fuck?” she whispered her voice trembling. Her mind struggled to come up with an explanation of what she had just felt, but she failed to calm herself. After a few moments, of attempting not to wet herself, Jalissa slowly pulled the sheet down. Her dark, dilated eyes jarred across the room and they stopped dead focusing on an anomaly. There was something white, smoke-like forming in the far corner of the bedroom. Long wisps of pale spun like pale ink forming into something. Jalissa’s heart banned against her padded ribs.

**_BAM. BAM. BAM_ **

The vapor started to twist, take shape into the outline of a person. Jalissa’s wide, horrified eyes yearned to be blinked but  in utter fear she was too afraid to even flick her lids closed for half even a half of second. There was no face, only white with no detail as if whatever was had only half formed as if it was unsure. Jalissa let out a small squeak from the back of her clenched throat when she saw a line of inky redness raise from under where a cheek bone should be. The faceless white apparition turned its head towards her, slowly, no eyes, yet it was looking at her. Her head felt as light as a balloon, dizzy and almost sick with horror, for a split hair of a second she his face. Suddenly there, fully formed and detailed. Her brain tried its best to hold on to man’s features, yet she only resisted his golden sunken eyes before her face went numb and she fainted.

 


End file.
